Select Local Merchants

Jackson's Central Jersey Rifle and Pistol Club is the great place for a sports fan to spend a Saturday, or any day for that matter.
With a sizzling plate of terrific food, this club boasts among the best eats this side of the city.
Parking is plentiful, so visitors can feel free to bring their vehicles.

If you love sports, you'll probably also love Targetmaster in Chadds Ford.
Sure you could eat at home, but you'll want to take advantage of this club's restaurant for high-class food.
Parking is plentiful, so visitors can feel free to bring their vehicles.

facet: Main
type: Traditional
locale: en_US
title: Philadelphia Archery & Gun Club
facet_type_id: 7a033900-6d22-1032-aff6-2214c2b09fb5
html_text: |-
The Range
Seven 20-yard lanes
Steel-enclosed shooting booths
Climate-controlled indoor setting
Modern target-retrieval systems with digital displays
Rated for all pistol, rifle, and shotgun calibers
At a Glance
At Philadelphia Archery & Gun Club, James Mastroddi and his team of NRA- and state-certified instructors provide both law-enforcement professionals and responsible firearm owners with opportunities to develop their skills in a safe setting. Introductory classes familiarize beginners with the safe and proper use of firearms, whereas specialized courses are restricted to law-enforcement personnel.
In Philadelphia Archery & Gun Club's pro shop, visitors can peruse apparel, accessories, and more than 500 firearms. And because safety remains paramount, every firearm purchase includes complimentary range use and professional instruction.

The Range
13 indoor lanes, each 23 yards long
Pistol, rifle, and shotgun shooting
Accommodates calibers of .22 to .308
Range safety officers monitor lanes
The Rentals
Handguns and long guns
Ammo and targets also available onsite
At a Glance
Regardless of his or her skill, each person's visit to The Gun Range begins with a formal briefing from an NRA-certified firearms expert. Safety is the cornerstone of the business, which first opened in the 1950s under its original name, Colosimo's. The NRA instructors also lead classes, including safety workshops and self-defense classes.

Philadelphia's Holmesburg Fish and Game is the great place for a sports fan to spend a Saturday, or any day for that matter.
Sure you could eat at home, but you'll want to take advantage of this club's restaurant for high-class food.
Grab the kids when you head to this club — its family-oriented atmosphere perfect for the whole clan.
Parking is plentiful, so guests can feel free to bring their vehicles.

If you're a sports fan, Delaware Valley Sports Center in Philadelphia is the place you want to be.
Check out the restaurant at this club for a delicious meal.
Youngsters are more than welcome to join mom and dad at this club.
Parking is plentiful, so guests can feel free to bring their vehicles.

Groupon Guide

Going to a shooting range for the first time might be confusing, even downright intimidating. We talked to an expert—Peter Roberts, assistant manager of Atlanta’s Range, Guns & Safes—to get a few shooting range tips every beginner should know before walking through the front door.Know the basic principles of safe gun handling.Many of Range, Guns & Safes’ visitors are first-timers, for whom the activity is “just a recreational thing,” according to Roberts. With that in mind, Roberts stresses the importance of learning the four basic principles of safe gun handling: Consider the weapon always to be loaded. Keep your finger off the trigger. Point the firearm in the safe direction. In other words, only aim it at the target if you’re on the range’s firing line, and keep it holstered everywhere else. Always know what your target is and what’s behind it (also referred to as the “backstop”).Read about them in more detail here.Bring along a friend who knows what they're doing.Even though your average range will require first-timers to take a fundamentals course before getting started, Roberts stresses the importance of attending with at least one experienced shooter—especially if you’re going with a larger group. “It’s hard to teach four, five, six, seven people about firearm safety, and then keep them safe when they’re [on their own].”When it comes to beginners' firearms, bigger is better.According to Roberts, any first-time shooter should start off with a smaller-sized pistol such as a .22, .38, or 9mm. However, it shouldn’t be too small.“The biggest misconception is that little guns don’t kick,” he says. “Little guns actually kick way more than big guns. We always have to go through the schpiel of ‘Don’t get the itty bitty 9mm, because it’ll hurt to shoot it. It kicks real hard. Get the medium or the large 9mm, and it’ll kick much less.’ It’s much easier to handle.”Don't put your thumb on the pistol slide.When shooting semi-automatic weapons, beginners “always put their thumb on the top of the rear of the slide,” Roberts says, referring to the top part of the gun that moves backwards when fired. “They could get injured that way. We caution them to make sure they put their thumbs on top of thumbs instead of the slide.”Never wear a V-neck.Some fashion choices are more obvious when going to the firing range. Not wearing open-toed shoes, for instance, goes without saying. But visitors should also think twice about donning any kind of V-neck shirt. “It creates a funnel effect,” cautions Roberts. “And if they hold the gun loosely, then the round will go backwards and go down their shirt. Kind of embarrassing.”Want to put these safety tips to good use? Check Groupon for great deals on firing ranges in your city.Read about other adventures on the Groupon Guide:Lock, Load, and Linger for a While at These Eight Scenic Shooting Ranges10 Reasons to Plan a Camping Trip This Fall

While at a shooting range, most of your attention should be focused on the scope of your gun. But it’s nice to have something pretty to look at between rounds, so we’ve found eight shooting ranges that take their scenery—and their safety—seriously.
Two Elk Shooting Range | Vail, CO
The landscape: Green meadows in the Rocky Mountain foothills.
What you’ll shoot: Self-defense and personal protection are the focus here, with a popular basic pistols class running on Mondays in the summer. Other classes teach students how to fight with knives and sticks.
What you’ll do if you’re just along for the ride: Enjoy the scenery. Two Elk Shooting Range has been revitalized into one of the most beautiful in the country, and the Minturn Shooter Association hosts a monthly cleanup on the first Saturday of each month (9 a.m. to noon) to keep it that way.
Family Shooting Center at Cherry Creek State Park | Aurora, CO
The landscape: A sprawling prairie, framed by the distant Rockies.
What you’ll shoot: If you have a penchant for American history, ask the staff about shooting a vintage machine gun that dates all the way back to World War I.
What you’ll do if you’re just along for the ride: Head due north toward the Cherry Creek Reservoir. Chances are, you’ll come across one or a few of the 40 different mammal species (including mule deer, coyotes, and prairie dogs) that inhabit the park.
Josephine County Sportsman Association Gun Range | Grants Pass, OR
The landscape: 320 acres of coniferous parkland, nestled in the shadow of Walker Mountain.
What you’ll shoot: Take your pick. The range features 10 shooting ranges (three for archery, three for rifles, and two for pistols, plus an indoor range).
What you’ll do if you’re just along for the ride: The park has a picnic and pond area for families to enjoy after firing off some rounds. Bring your own food to grill on the outdoor barbecue.
Los Altos Rod and Gun Club | Los Gatos, CA
photo by David Sawyer via Flickr
The landscape: Northern California coastal forest in the Santa Cruz mountains.
What you’ll shoot: Rifles and pistols. There’s also an area to try out manual and electric traps.
What you’ll do if you’re just along for the ride: Make a lunch at the scenic picnic area. Just remember to check the forecast—the weather on the range typically varies from the rest of the Santa Clara Valley.
Seven Devils Lodge Shooting Range | Council, ID
The landscape: Lush, verdant forests and meadows on all sides.
What you’ll shoot: Shotgun, pistols, or rifles. Perfect for first-time shooters, instructors are present at all times to teach proper safety, including how to correctly hold any of the aforementioned firearms.
What you’ll do if you’re just along for the ride: Depending on the time of year, popular activities include horseback riding, archery, fishing, hiking, and even snowmobiling.
Casa Grande Trap Club | Casa Grande, AZ
The landscape: Wide-open skies and vast desert expanses. This is Arizona, after all.
What you’ll shoot: Shotguns. Lots of shotguns.
What you’ll do if you’re just along for the ride: There’s an RV park located on the premises, and anyone who stays overnight can wake up early to the sun rising over Casa Grande Mountain.
Stellar Adventures Shooting Experience | Scottsdale, AZ
The landscape: Cactuses and tumbleweeds. If you’re looking for that Old West vibe, you’ve found the place.
What you’ll shoot: After a safety debriefing, each shooter fires a full 15-round magazine from the Glock 9mm handgun. If that’s not enough to get your heart racing, firing 30 rounds from an AK-47 will probably do the trick.
What you’ll do if you’re just along for the ride: Stellar Adventures also offers off-road tours of the Sonoran landscape in Hummers, ATVs, and similarly rugged vehicles.
Koko Head Shooting Complex | Honolulu, HI
The landscape: The island of Oahu is a tropical paradise that’s so breathtakingly gorgeous, you almost won’t want to shoot bullets at it. Almost.
What you’ll shoot: Rifles and pistols, for the most part. There’s also an unmanned archery range.
What you’ll do if you’re just along for the ride: Well, you’re already in Hawaii, so you must be doing something right. We’ll let you take it from here.
Check Groupon for deals on shooting ranges in your area, and always follow the proper safety procedures when it comes to firearms.
Photos: unless otherwise noted, photos courtesy of the ranges.

Located in a warehouse just north of Humboldt Park, Archery Bow Range Chicago (1757 N. Kimball Ave.) doesn’t look like much from the street. But inside the cavernous space, you’ll find a 20-yard archery range and a 20-foot training range. You’ll also find plenty of students shakily holding their bows, worried less about hitting a bull’s-eye than hitting someone else’s eye.That’s where Jonas Lumayag (right, below) steps in. The way Jonas sees it, archery isn’t just the province of Olympians and elves. Almost every Saturday, he hosts Intro to Archery clinics that teach newcomers to shoot with confidence. One of two clinic instructors, Jonas actually started in an intro clinic himself. The bow soon came to feel like a natural extension of his body, and just a short year later he’s competing with the Lincoln Park Archery Club.Jonas says his intro clinics are a great way to learn about archery for the first time. “They take you step by step,” he said. “Like any sport, if you don't have proper direction, it takes longer to learn.”OK, I’ll admit it: a part of me wants to be Katniss Everdeen, or at least Merida from Brave. So I signed up for ABRC’s Intro to Archery clinic to learn how to shoot arrows straight. Or at least not backward.Step 1: Follow the Rules or Pay with Delicious Baked Goods
To keep their intro clinic from turning into a medieval battlefield, the bow range has only four rules:Don’t shoot yourself. Don’t shoot each other.Don’t dry shoot (“dry shooting,” I learned, means releasing the line without an arrow in it).Have fun.Seems easy enough, right? Beginner and intermediate shooters use the shorter of the two ranges to get their control down before trying for distance. The 20-foot target is close enough that you don’t need to focus too much on power.Over in the advanced range, it’s a different story. The targets are 20 yards away from the shooting line, and the archers seem to routinely hit bull’s-eyes barely visible to the naked eye. When one of these pros misses with a wild shot, they pay for it with pushups or a tray of cookies for their peers. So if you’re at the range and hear someone yell "Duck!", expect it to be followed with a chorus of "Cookies!"Step 2: Figure Out Which of Your Eyes Is Dominant
As I lined up with my group, I noticed how diverse the other shooters were. There were little kids, retirees, and even some younger couples trying out a new form of dating. When the class split into three smaller groups to shoot our first arrows, I encountered an unexpected problem—I had no idea which hand to use.Jonas helpfully explained that my bow hand isn’t necessarily the one I write with. He showed our group how to use the “eye test” to judge which eye is dominant. Once everyone figured that out, he instructed us to shoot with our dominant eye closest to the arrow.So, you might be asking, what’s this eye test all about? It’s simple: face any target—be it an exit sign or a donut nailed to your bedroom wall—and extend your hands away from your body, creating a small, triangular window with your thumbs touching and your index fingers overlapping. Then, pull your hands toward you without taking your eyes off the target. The dominant eye is whichever eye your hands land on. I happened to be one of only two lefties in my group, even though I’m normally right-handed.Step 3: Archers, Take Your Position
“Now comes the fun part,” I thought as Jonas handed out bows. I got a yellow one named Sunny—not exactly a name that would strike fear into an oncoming orc, but no matter. Grasping my new weapon, I lined up to face the target. Left-eye dominant shooters stand with their right shoulders forward, while right-eye dominant shooters do the opposite.A proper archery stance requires the feet to be shoulder-width apart. We stood with our legs on either side of a red line, our bodies straight and our arms extended (“In true Katniss fashion,” I thought, with just a tinge of glee). With the three middle fingers of my left hand, I pulled back the arrow until my hand rested against my cheek. Sensing some tension, Jonas reminded me to relax. "At first, it’s just about getting used to holding the bow," he said.I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous, which isn’t exactly a bad thing to be around weapons. Luckily, Jonas is used to beginners coming in with a few nerves. “When you're doing something new, it’s intimidating enough to show up,” he said. “This is one of those sports where you’re your own worst enemy. You just need to have a bit of confidence.” Easy enough to say, less easy to do.Step 4: Ready, Aim, Fire
Apparently, there’s a basic method for hitting the center of a target. All you have to do is look down the arrow shaft, aim at the center, and release the string. As you might imagine, it’s harder than it sounds. Jonas said the best piece of advice he ever got was “Hey man, just shoot the middle and you'll be OK."My first arrow clattered off the target and hit the ground. Sensing weakness, Jonas came over to help, showing me how to point my elbow out so that the arrow wouldn’t sting.The next round? I hit myself again.Step 5: Now Try to Actually Hit the Target
Each shot I took after those initial duds was dramatically better than the last. Jonas advised students to aim low—”the arrow will fly higher than you think.” Making small adjustments, I discovered, can really move the arrow to where it needs to go.By the third round, I was hitting close to the center of the target.Katniss I may never be, but the day was far from unsuccessful. Besides, Jonas said, beginners often realize that archery is much harder than it looks. “You can see the attitude change from, ‘We’re just shooting and having fun!’ to ‘Aw, man, this is so hard!’”Still, helping newcomers improve is one of Jonas’s favorite parts of the job. “That's what we’re here for,” he said. “We always want them to have a good experience with it because the positive experience will encourage people to take it further.” Maybe not as far as The Hunger Games, but close enough.Intro to Archery clinics take place on most Saturdays at 3 p.m. See the class calendar and click here to sign up for classes.